Congress revisiting religion & votes, signals AK Antony

NEW DELHI: AK Antony's remarks that Congress' proximity to minorities had led people to doubt its secularism have not come as a surprise to many senior party leaders as they too have been airing similar views after the party's worst Lok Sabha poll defeat. Some of them feel Antony going public with this sensitive topic may be part of a conscious move of the leadership to signal its willingness for a tactical review of "the flaws" in party's "electoral practice of secular politics".

Last Friday Antony said, "Congress policy is equal justice to everyone. But people have doubt whether that policy is being implemented or not. This doubt is created by the party's proximity towards minorities, and such a situation would open the door for the entry of communal forces into Kerala".

Antony's remarks, incidentally, coincided with Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra clearing a contentious reservation for Muslims and Marathas by over-ruling opposition from sections within."The Congress proposing quota for Muslims in UP and for Jats in Rajasthan ahead of last polls did not help us. Such quotas only turn people angry with us," said an AICC functionary.

Antony remark on 'the entry of communal forces into Kerala' comes after the BJP polled over 10% votes in the state during LS polls. Many Congress leaders see the constant power-bargaining tactics by the

Congress allies Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the predominantly pro-Christian Kerala Congress (KC) factions and the tendency of the Congress and the Left to put up with these, are driving many Hindus to BJP fold. Antony's remarks coincide with a recent issue in which a blackboard at a government school in Malappuram district was painted green, triggering social and political unease. The IUML holds the education portfolio in the state government.

The lack of political firmness shown by both the Congress and the Left in also dealing with certain rabid Muslim outfits has also helped BJP grow in Kerala, feels some in Congress. When CWC discussed on May 20 party's poll debacle, half-a-dozen leaders said party's secular pitch was being perceived by many Hindus as blatantly pro-minorities and that such perception had hurt the Congressin polls.

On May 22, Digvijaya Singh told ET in an interview that, "Large sections of Hindus felt they were getting a raw deal and they must unite to defeat all those secular parties. The word secularism is, unfortunately, being identified with Muslim appeasement".

Many in the Congress feel, the UPA commissioning Sachar report, PM saying minorities have a first right on national resources and action against "Hindu terror" without clinching evidence, had added to RSS' resolve to project Congress as 'anti-Hindu".